The rollercoaster ride that is the DCEU has been a bumpy yet intriguing ride. Despite its sub-par start with the releases of Man of Steel, Batman V. Superman, and Suicide Squad, DC and Warner Bros. have bounced back over the past few years and have turned around an extended universe that was first viewed as a failure.
So, as the calendar turned to 2021, the DCEU was ready to unleash two giant tentpoles for the brand, Zack Snyder’s Justice League and The Suicide Squad. The first release was one of the biggest surprises of the year and, despite its 4-hour run-time, is quite engaging. However, nothing would prepare me for the high-octane, love letter to the genre that would be James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. A film that is more than a blockbuster, it’s cinema at its grandest and most pleasing.
This time around, The Suicide Squad has an array of fresh faces, and quite frankly, it’s all for the better. From the moment the film starts, we are made aware that there are two teams sent on this mission. One includes Robert DuBois/Bloodsport, who joins the team after Amanda Waller threatens his daughter and becomes the de facto leader of Waller’s Task Force X on a mission in Corto Maltese (The Dark Knight Returns will smile knowing Corto Maltese has finally hit the DCEU). Joining Bloodsport’s team are Peacemaker, Ratcatcher 2, Polka-Dot Man, and Nanaue/King. On the other side, Rick Flag is back and leading a mission that includes everyone’s favorite and mine – Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Savant, Blackguard, TDK, Javelin, Mongal, and Weasel.
From its opening scenes, James Gunn lets cinephiles know this is not your average comic book film. Gunn creates stakes that were absent from the 2016 edition and, in turn, puts focus on the fact that every member of Task Force X is disposable. In a similar fashion to Game Of Thrones, Gunn immediately puts folks on notice that no character is safe. In a world where most comic book film characters killed are eventually resurrected in some form or fashion, this gives The Suicide Squad a level of freshness and tension where you don’t know who’s going to be alive upon the film’s conclusion.
The film is unique because everyone gets a moment to shine, even though The Suicide Squad is an ensemble piece. With such a large cast, not a single person feels wasted here and, in turn, will create many different “favorites” that no one would see coming. Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is incredible as always and cements her place as one of the most iconic DC characters ever portrayed on the big screen. John Cena’s Peacemaker is downright hilarious and menacing and warrants the upcoming series coming to HBO Max.
However, the three characters that I could not stop talking about were Sylvester Stallone’s King Shark, who brings both some of the funniest and heartfelt moments of the film, David Dastmalchian’s Polk-Dot Man is tragic and easy to root for and if there is a heart of the film is Daniela Melchoir’s Ratcatcher II. Not only does she offer up the film’s most subtle sweet moments, but she’s an absolute badass that will warrant cinephiles finding their very own pet rats.
With The Suicide Squad, Jame Gunn’s past films are sprinkled throughout. From the over-the-top violence of Super to the killer soundtrack in Guardians of the Galaxy, it creates a satisfying satire of the genre that doesn’t disrespect it but similarly breathes fresh air to Taika Watiti’s Thor: Ragnarok.
Like every comic book movie, Gunn’s film concludes on a giant-sized CGI spectacle. Still, Gunn injects a Kaiju-style finale that will put a smile on Gozilla fans and injects his sensibilities to bring tongue-in-cheek humor that brings originality to a done-to-final death act in the genre.
Will the DCEU ever match the MCU? Probably not, but what James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad does is deliver a film that can fit any single entry in the MCU. This is not just a remarkable film, it’s not just the best film in DCEU, but it’s one of the best films of the genre in the past decade.
